SPRINGFIELD – The trial is set to begin today in Hampden Superior Court for Paul L. Fickling, the man whose first conviction for the 1996 deaths of his ex-girlfriend and her toddler daughter was thrown out in the wake of a jailhouse confession by serial killer Alfred J. Gaynor.

Judge Judd J. Carhart is due to consider a series of pre-trial motions, primarily from the defense, before the trial proceeds. They include claims by defense lawyer Greg T. Schubert that the prosecution has failed to supply him some information about its witnesses and police investigations.

The case is being prosecuted by Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett.

Fickling faces charges of first-degree murder for the killing of Amy Smith and leaving her 22-month-old daughter to die of starvation and dehydration. First convicted by a jury in 1997, Fickling had been serving two life sentences when he was granted a new trial.

Fickling is the nephew of Gaynor, who in 2008 filed a jailhouse confession to having raped and killed Smith and leaving the child alone in her apartment.

On Dec. 2, 2008, Schubert filed Fickling’s motion for a new trial based on a statement by Gaynor that he alone killed Smith and left little Destiny Smith to die in the woman’s apartment.

Fickling’s case has been the subject of numerous hearings, discussions and in-court battles between prosecution and defense.

Gaynor’s confession, made from state prison where he is serving consecutive life sentences for the murders of four city women, was cited by Judge Mary Lou Rup in setting aside Fickling’s earlier conviction by a jury.

Schubert even sought to have Bennett subpoenaed to testify at the new trial, but Rup ruled the defense could not do so. If Bennett was a witness, he would not have been able to prosecute the case. Rup did rule that the defense can subpoena Superior Court Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty, who once served as Gaynor’s lawyer before being appointed to the bench, to testify.

Schubert wanted to ask Bennett, among other questions, if Gaynor had been a suspect in Smith’s deaths closer to the time they occurred. Bennett has said that even if Gaynor had been with Fickling at the time of Amy Smith’s death, it is the prosecution’s argument that Fickling can be found guilty as a joint venture defendant.

Gaynor is due to be among the witnesses at Fickling’s trial and is expected to testify about his confession. Gaynor was found guilty at trial in 2000 of murdering JoAnn C. Thomas, Loretta Daniels, Rosemary A. Downs, and Joyce L. Dickerson-Peay in the late 1990s.